Juan Alayo, former Hempstead co-op board president, pleads guilty to almost $30,000, AG says

A former Hempstead co-op board president has pleaded guilty to stealing almost $30,000 in co-op funds, New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced Friday.

Juan Alayo, 72, of East Meadow, pleaded guilty Thursday to grand larceny, a felony, and petit larceny, a misdemeanor, after he was caught embezzling more than $26,738 by writing checks to himself and his cleaning company and falsifying co-op business records to hide his thefts, according to a news release from James’ office.

Residents of the Hendrickson Avenue building alerted authorities when they reviewed co-op records after Alayo moved out, prosecutors said.

“Juan Alayo’s neighbors elected him to oversee their building, and Mr. Alayo violated their trust to line his own pockets,” James said in a statement.

A lawyer for Alayo, Garden City-based Jack Posner, declined to comment. Alayo could not be reached Friday.

Under the terms of the guilty plea, Alayo will reimburse the co-op and complete 210 hours of community service or go to jail for a year, prosecutors said.

Alayo was elected by neighbors from 2016 through 2023 to lead the board of the Marlboro Owners Corp.

Alayo’s position paid him $200 per month and entailed scheduling building maintenance and keeping co-op business records. Prosecutors described a scheme, discovered by the new board president after Alayo moved out of the co-op, in which Alayo wrote and cashed checks to his company, A&J Cleaning Services, that were made to look as if they were for legitimate co-op expenses. 

For example, prosecutors said, a $2,466.30 check he wrote to Tragar, a legitimate home heating oil company, was actually sent to and cashed by A&J.